During Tokyo Game Show 2025, we sat down with Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive, for an in-depth conversation about Football Manager 26. The discussion covered the cancelled FM25, the complete overhaul of the game’s systems, and the addition of women’s football to the series.

Learning From Failure and New Beginnings

Jacobson addressed the cancellation of FM25 directly, calling it “we failed.”

“I’m at peace with that,” he said. “I apologize to everyone out there for not delivering a game last year, but I had to get to peace with the fact that we made a game that wasn’t good enough, and I cancelled it.” He explained that games are expensive relative to wages in many Asian countries, and he couldn’t ask players to save for months only to receive something subpar.

The cancelled game taught the team lessons. “We learned that we were too ambitious with what we were trying to do. We learned that things can sound like great ideas and look good on paper, but don’t work in reality,” Jacobson said. He compared it to football itself, referencing natural talent versus hard work: “You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t work 100% every single day, what’s the point of having that talent?”

Jacobson emphasized that Football Manager 26 isn’t the next entry in the series. “People can’t think of FM26 as it’s the next version of the series. It’s the first version of the next 20 years,” he stated.

The team evaluated what worked and what didn’t. “We set about looking at what we thought worked really well in the game and what we thought didn’t work well in the game. And what didn’t work well in the game, we either improved it or we got rid of it,” Jacobson explained. The question they asked was: if they could start over, would they do things the same way?

The answer was often no, leading to changes like the complete overhaul of the tactics system to separate in-possession and out-of-possession play with different formations for each state.

Balancing Accessibility and Depth in Football Manager 26

Football Manager 26 needed to work for both newcomers and hardcore fans. The numbers showed a challenge: FM24 had 20 million players compared to just 2 million in 2021, but many newcomers dropped out after an hour. “About 8 million people carry on playing for 5 hours. And if you play Football Manager for 5 hours, you play for 100,” Jacobson noted.

The team created a dedicated accessibility team and brought in people who wanted to create a lighter experience. “I wouldn’t be the best person to be working on that because I know the game really well,” Jacobson admitted.

The new user interface presents information in smaller chunks while hiding complexity until players want to dig deeper. There’s also FMpedia, an in-game Wikipedia of football that explains concepts and directs players to relevant screens. The development team created six different player personas and balanced features across them. “So, it’s a huge part of the process now as we’ve grown as a studio and as we have more players,” Jacobson said.

The New Interface Challenge

The UI overhaul had complications. The first version didn’t work, which contributed to FM25’s cancellation. “We tried to be too clever with the system. We tried to have one navigation system and it didn’t work,” Jacobson said.

The team created three different navigation systems: top menu, sub-menu, and bookmarks. “With the new interface, we’re able to get more information on screen but in smaller bite-sized chunks. So, you get the key information there in the boxes and if you want to go deeper and see more, you click on it,” he explained.

The response has been different for different players: new users find it easier, while hardcore players struggle with their muscle memory. “For the hardcore users, because they’re used to everything being in certain places, that’s all moved. You have to cancel your muscle memory and you have to relearn it and once you relearn it, it’s so much easier to use,” Jacobson said.

Women’s Football: Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Adding women’s football took time, and Jacobson acknowledged it: “Firstly, I apologize that it’s taken so long. It should have been there earlier.”

The process started with hiring Tina Keech, who had worked on betting odds for Brentford’s Matthew Benham. She built a global research network, many from the existing men’s football research team who wanted to contribute to women’s football as well.

Jacobson spent time learning from people in the women’s game, including Emma Hayes, now manager of the US women’s national team. “She taught me more about the menstrual cycle in an hour than I’ve learned from living with women for 53 years and the effects that that has,” he said.

The team decided how to represent players. “We made the decision that that actually wasn’t fair because men tend to be stronger than women. Women tend to have better agility than men,” Jacobson explained. They compare women to women and men to men for performance attributes, while coaching attributes use the same scale.

The graphical work required redoing all motion capture. “Women’s body shapes are different to men. Women tend to have wider hips because they’re able to give birth, which no man is able to do,” Jacobson noted. This meant thousands of animations.

Football Manager 26 launches with 11 women’s leagues across 14 divisions. “It’s more than any other sports game has. It’s more than most sports games have for men’s football as well,” Jacobson said. The goal is to match the 53 professional leagues they have for men’s football. “We want there to be 53 pro leagues in women’s football,” he stated.

Transfer Market Reality Check

When asked about transfer market realism, Jacobson pushed back on the criticism. “I don’t think our transfer market is unrealistic. I think that people don’t necessarily understand the way that it works in real life,” he said.

He pointed to real examples: Newcastle paying £67 million for Nick Woltemade because his club demanded more than market value, or Aston Villa getting a good deal on Jadon Sancho because Manchester United needed to pass FFP regulations. “The price that players move for is determined by how valuable that player is to their team,” Jacobson explained.

His advice was to negotiate. “If you’re going to go and buy a car and you want to buy a second-hand car, do you pay the price that’s on the windscreen or do you try and negotiate that price down? So, why aren’t you doing that inside Football Manager as well?”

Gegenpress and Tactical Variety

The Gegenpress tactic has been considered powerful in Football Manager. Jacobson didn’t deny its strength but provided context. “If you’ve got great players, it works well. If you don’t have such good players, those players should get tired quicker. And that’s definitely something that is in place in there,” he said.

He pointed to real-world examples of smaller teams like Brighton and Getafe using their own systems. “No one in La Liga wants to play games against Getafe. No one wants to play against them. Because they know that they’re not in a football match, they’re in a fight,” Jacobson noted.

His tactical approach varies by team. Managing Watford, he plays 4-3-3 in possession and 4-5-1 out of possession, with a pressing game adjusted to his players’ fitness levels. “For me, defensive midfield is the most important position on the pitch,” he added.

“There is no best tactic. You have to adjust it compared to the players.”

Technical Improvements in Football Manager 26

Football Manager 26 includes technical upgrades. The team partnered with Unity for improved graphics, Transfer Room (how real clubs handle transfers), and Hawkeye Technologies, which provides VAR data worldwide.

“They have 18 cameras in each of the football stadiums. And it just so happens that they track the same amount of bones that we do with the motion capture,” Jacobson explained. This volumetric data means when players look up before crossing or perform specific touches, it’s based on real football data.

The AI received thousands of improvements, particularly in defensive play and marking. “People always concentrate on the attacking side of things. The things that I’m most proud of is how we’ve improved the marking and the defensive side of things in game,” Jacobson said. The team also brought in a former Forza Motorsport developer to lead the art team.

The Premier League Partnership and Mobile Strategy

After 20 years of conversations, Football Manager secured a Premier League license. The timing worked because EA’s deal structure allowed it. “They kind of turned around to the Premier League and said, hey look, we still want to be the number one partner, but if you want to do a deal with Football Manager, that’s cool,” Jacobson recalled.

The partnership focuses on authenticity. That means including EA FC logos where they appear in real broadcasts, using the same typeface and scoreboard, and replicating walkouts. “When you’re watching the games, it will look like you’re watching an international broadcast,” Jacobson said.

He noted there’s no competition issue: “Isn’t it a problem for you promoting their game? No, it’s not a problem for us at all. They paid the money to be in there and every single game should have that in there.”

Football Manager Mobile is now a Netflix exclusive, a decision rooted in strategy from nine years ago. Jacobson’s background in the music industry shaped his thinking. In the 1990s, he warned his company about university students sharing music on servers. “I sent a fax through to the head of legal at the company that I was at and said we need to get onto this now and set up a licensing framework or else we’ve lost,” he remembered. The lawyer responded that the internet wouldn’t catch on.

The embrace of streaming took FM from 2 million players to 20 million. “That doesn’t mean ten times the revenue. It means about two and a half times the revenue,” Jacobson explained.

Netflix kept Football Manager Mobile going when it was nearly discontinued due to insufficient players. “Netflix came along and said don’t do that. We’re going to keep this game alive,” Jacobson said. The mobile version will feature Indonesian language for the first time, with plans to add it to the PC version if adoption is strong.

System Requirements and Modding

Despite the graphical upgrades, Sports Interactive kept accessibility in mind. “We’re no longer supporting 17-year-old laptops. We’re now supporting 10-year-old laptops. What other games are doing that when new things come through?” Jacobson asked.

Modding remains supported, though some features won’t be available at launch. Player packs and logo packs work, but custom skins won’t be in Football Manager 26 initially. Screen configuration also won’t be available at launch but may come in future updates.

The team is changing terminology: patches will fix issues, while content updates may add new modes or features. “It’s going to be really interesting to see what happens throughout this cycle,” Jacobson said.

The Vision Forward after Football Manager 26

When asked about the overarching vision, Jacobson’s answer was direct: “It’s to make the most realistic, accessible football management game that there’s ever been. The two things completely contradict one another, but I think we’ve done it.”

He sees Football Manager 26 as a foundation. “If this is the first version of what we’re doing with the new engine, imagine what it’s going to be like in five years’ time,” he said.

At 53, Jacobson is thinking about succession. “I’m setting it up for the future because I’m probably not going to be there in 20 years. I’m getting older now,” he noted. The team structure is designed to let others continue the work in the years ahead.

The interview concluded with congratulations to Indonesia for winning the Football Manager World Cup and news about Indonesian language support. Jacobson’s closing thought summed up his philosophy: “We don’t make a game, we make a world. We make a world of football, do anything you want in that world.”